We just had/have two promotions. Great! Everyone buy CE for the boxes.
But between promotions, how do you make money OOO?
-No Elevator Passes (or fees).
-Crafting doesn't need CE anymore.
-Rarities can be obtained in game and I don't imagine it is a big money maker (making them rarer will just make people madder)
-OCH was buyable/tradeable (with CE, I know)
Is the Supply Depot a godsend?
Just wondering.
-Lanny
Gotcha. I have bought 1 Elevator Pass (to support the game after a year or so of F2P) and then some Energy Pack with the Infernal and Angel costumes when it was like 75% off.
I don't go for "monthly subscription" type purchases.
Of course Writhes. Thanks for you insight.
I mean have the energy purchases fully taken the place of elevator pass purchases?
Old system: Playing and crafting cost energy. Heating did not. We were given a limited amount of energy per day for free (100 mist energy).
New system: Heating and crafting cost energy. Playing does not. We are sometimes given free heating and crafting (when we find enough fire crystals and orbs in the Clockworks).
All of this is obvious, but many players don't understand it, because their expectations switched so radically on 2013-07-30. These players no longer think that crafting (or heating) should cost energy. They expect it to be free. That's why they get upset when Three Rings lowers the drop rates on fire crystals and orbs. But heating and crafting are not supposed to be free. They are supposed to drive energy purchases, and hence revenue for Three Rings.
>Crafting doesn't need CE anymore.
Technically correct. But not practically.
With the removal of mist, it is now economical for anyone to churn out a dozen 2* items on a regular basis now that we can sell our rejects on the AH without going bankrupt due to mist crafting under cutters.
Buy 2*/3* orbs > craft > sell on AH > recover most of your costs, cover the losses with gameplay earnings and the occasional UV > repeat.
Thanks for your comment, Exerpa. To put it another way: Under the old system, obtaining crafting alts was an incentive to spend real money on the game. And that incentive has been removed, which has a cascade of effects on the economy, particularly for 2-star items.
My comments were implicitly focused on higher-star crafts. I'm thinking of beginning-to-intermediate players, who are still trying to get their first 5-star set, or maybe their second. Previously, they had to save up tons of crowns (or spend real money) to buy energy. Based on all of the complaints about drop rates on these forums, it seems that many players are finding that they still need to buy energy.
I spend like, 20$ a month on energy for various things. I prefer to just spend a bit of money than force myself to farm easy (and by extension relatively unfun) content to get orbs.
I don't really go for promotions in general though. I don't really care much for costume items unless I can get them for free/cheap/bundled with other stuff.